


I Hear It's Legal Now

by agentsimmons



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Capsicoul - Freeform, Coming Out, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Fanboy Phil Coulson, Fluff and Crack, Gay Phil Coulson, Gay Steve Rogers, Homophobia, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Military Homophobia, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Older Man/Younger Man, POV Steve Rogers, Period-Typical Homophobia, Science Boyfriends, Sexual Confusion, Steve Rogers Feels, biologically anyways?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 03:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7082824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 People Steve Came Out To and 1 Person Who Came Out To Him. Or something to that effect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Hear It's Legal Now

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to take a break from working on finishing Forged With Blood, Forged With Fire so I opened a blank Word document and rather than the Cherik fic, identity porn Avengers au, or that Tony/Bruce as Clark Kent's dads verse thing I had in mind when I did... this happened. So, uh, yeah, have some capsicoul and Steve coming out and finding support and stuff. Idk. I wrote this the night before last when I should have been sleeping and it's not really edited so. (Still with background Science Boyfriends because I can't help myself.)

"It's legal now, you know."

Steve was broken from his trance-like study of two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he'd been sketching from a distance; he often sat in the commissary and sketched while others ate. He'd seen the agents around, knew they were together, could see the happiness in their long gazes and bursts of laughter as they ate their lunches and yet the quick kiss they’d just shared had surprised him and made his pencil come to an abrupt stop as the feeling of a blush touched his cheeks.

He looked at Coulson as he sat down beside him with his own lunch as he often did. They'd come a long way since his awkwardly going on and on about trading cards, although in retrospect it had been endearing and Steve had had his reasons for not knowing how to react to Phil's open fawning. Some days it felt like Phil was the only one who understood him compared to his team or other agents. Phil appreciated the simpler things, nostalgia, the best things that the past had given them, old-fashioned conviction…

"I know," Steve finally replied, looking down at his sketchpad. "I just…"

"Still aren't used to seeing some people open about it," Coulson finished his thought process accurately. "I get it. You came from a time when even if sometimes it was an open secret or you managed to escape any literal punishment, it was the kind of thing if people even suspected you might be it could get you stigmatized, sneered at, relentlessly bullied…" Coulson sighed like he understood personally.

"From my understanding it still can," Steve said after a moment. He looked at Coulson to see his reaction. The other man frowned, eyes distant, and then met his gaze.

"Is that why you haven't told your team?" Steve's eyes widened at his assumption. "I was your biggest fan, remember?"

"Was?" Steve deflected and Phil chuckled.

"Still am," he said with a small smile. "But I'd also like to think I'm your friend now. If I hadn't had my hunches already as a fan who'd learned everything he could about you it's still pretty obvious now that I know you. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I…" Steve fumbled for a response as his cheeks felt like they were reddening. "I don't know if it's so much that I'm ashamed? Maybe a little? It was hard not to think something was wrong with you when that's how they treated it. For a while I thought it was because I was sick. I was scrawny and weak compared to other boys. Girls didn't like me so I didn't like them. But underneath I knew that wasn't true. Sometimes I wonder now if that's why I was so angry all the time. Why I stopped backing down from fights."

"It's possible," Coulson offered. "There's a term for it."

"Yeah, I know that too," Steve said with a nod. He'd done a lot of research on the subject in his spare time since waking up, but still as secretly as possible. He sighed. "I think afraid is probably the term for it," he finally got back to Phil's question as to why.

"That's understandable," Coulson replied with a shrug and took a bite of his food.

"What if I make my team uncomfortable, you know? Even if they're polite about it, it doesn't mean it can't make them uncomfortable. That's maybe worse. Hell, I'm sure there would have been men I could have gotten support from back in my day, but it just wasn't a risk you took. I... I had a good friend who endured things… _horrible_ things because he was found out. Then there's the fact…" He couldn't finish.

"The fact that you're Captain America?" Steve looked at him, slightly startled he'd understood what he'd wanted to say, and then sighed. He gave a small nod. "Yeah, coming out might not mesh with the ideals people have about the red, white and blue. But," he looked at him with an encouraging expression, but for just a moment Steve thought he saw something else there - vulnerability or something like it, "you don't have to tell everyone if you don't want to. Or anyone for that matter. But it's good to have people who know who you really are. I promise at least one person will truly support you. And it's good to be honest with yourself and with your team." He then smiled and shrugged again. "But if you don't want to, you've got me now at least. I promise your secret's as safe as you want it to be."

Steve blinked and glanced back across at the S.H.I.E.L.D. couple that now sat with their hands entwined. Phil was right of course. He knew that much even if he didn't know how to actualize it. Sometimes he wondered maybe if he had someone to link hands with, steal kisses from, be open with, he'd have more of a reason to be vocal about his preference. Maybe all these years later it was still just a matter of not having found the right partner.

He turned his attention back to Coulson then, watched him eat, and sketched him - yet again - as he did. And all the while he considered his advice.

 

Their conversation stayed with Steve for days until he couldn't shake the need to try telling someone else the truth. 'Coming out' was apparently what it was called now. There was something a little odd about that turn of phrase that left an even odder taste in his mouth. He understood it meant to stop hiding, to come out into the open, but it was hatred that forced a person to be 'in' in the first place. So it still stood to reason the power was in the hands of those who didn't have to worry one way or the other if they were in or out; they had the right to simply exist.

Still he decided to start this process of embracing the modern century and his possible place in it by 'coming out' to Thor one afternoon while they watched a movie together – they had found a brotherly bond in learning about the world together; often Thor introduced him to goofy things that he'd been introduced to by Jane or Darcy.

"Does it bother you?" Steve asked tentatively when an opportunity presented itself – that is a comment about a homosexual couple in-film.

"Does what bother me?" Thor turned to look at him, a smile on his face falling into a confused frown. Thor wasn't the one he was attracted to, but that didn't stop Steve from noting easily how attractive the demigod was. He was like a large teddy bear and there was something appealing about that in its own right (although Tony would – and had in the past – argue with you that if anyone on the team was a teddy bear it was Bruce).

Steve swallowed and then took a breath. "You know, the uh, the couple. Two guys… or two ladies… does that bother you?" For a moment Thor seemed very confused, then he turned his face back to the screen.

"You know little of Asgard, my friend," was Thor's answer at last. "We do not think of sexuality in the same way as you do here on Midgard. We do not keep it hidden and we do not limit it."

Steve wasn't sure how to respond. He suddenly felt a little foolish. Of course it made sense in retrospect. Thor was celebrated in Norse mythology – although it wasn't myth obviously – and the Norse, according to his American 1930s upbringing, was a Pagan culture that participated in unspeakable sin. When speaking of Pagan cultures, the discussion of fornication had always gotten the most attention, especially fornicating with the same sex, which had made Steve squirm with guilt when he heard it talked about.

"So if I were to tell you I'm attracted to men you would be okay with that?"

"Only men?" Thor quizzed without blinking.

"Uh, yeah, yeah," he answered. "I mean, women are swell, but I've given up any hope of being physically attracted to them." He bit his lip, trying to repress the feelings of confusion that had always plagued him in his attempts to be attracted to women on a more carnal level.

Thor clasped him on the shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. He blinked to see Thor looking at him soberly.

"I am glad you have shared with me your secret, Steve. Darcy and Jane have told me much about the rules and prejudices of Midgard. I assure you I only wish you luck in finding a male partner worthy of you. You are a great warrior."

"Uh," Steve felt slightly unsure about that, "thanks. But honestly I'd just like to find a partner who sees me for me." The scrawny kid from Brooklyn. The kid who didn't know how to back down from a fight. The guy who would have gladly gone over to fight just the way he was. Maybe that was why he'd loved Peggy regardless of everything that had been 'wrong' about him.

"Now," Thor added with a hearty chuckle, "I can encourage Darcy to look elsewhere for a partner of her own."

Steve took a moment to process that. "Wait… Uh, I'd rather not you tell her," he said uncertainly. "You're the first person, besides Coulson, to know. I'm not ready for a lot of people to know yet."

"Ah," the demigod toned. "Very well. I will suffer her endless requests for me to set her up on a hot date with you until you're ready." Steve cringed at the thought. Thor then gave a very thoughtful expression. "But, Steve, I wish you wouldn't hide who you are. We all care about you. And those who would be bothered by it are unimportant."

"Thanks, Thor."

 

With the relief of having told one of his teammates, Steve decided if anything didn't become Captain America it wasn't what gender he preferred rather being dishonest and lacking integrity. So he decided to move on to telling the rest of the team. He decided first to take the plunge and tell the most worrying person on his list of people to tell. Stark. There was just never anyway of knowing how the guy might react.

He found the man in the open lab – there was a secret lab or two that the other Avengers didn't have access to, save Bruce – and to no surprise at all he was working with Bruce at that very moment on something. Well, if tossing blueberries into the air and catching them in his mouth, while Bruce glanced at him in amusement as he _actually_ worked, was considered working. That meant he could kill two birds with one stone and never before had he been as grateful the two geniuses were joined at the hip. Telling Tony while Bruce was there for moral support was a nice incentive. After all, he was fairly certain if anyone wouldn't be unkind or judgemental it would be Bruce.

Bruce was even the first to notice him. "Hi, Steve," he called over to him with a smile, leftover from watching Tony act like an idiot.

"Hey, Cap," Tony spun around and grinned wide. "What brings you by? You guys only ever stop by when you want weapons. Yet, the only weapon you ever use is your shield. So unless you're looking for an adamantanium upgrade, probably not much we can do for you." He talked a mile a minute, gesticulating as he did. " _Are_ you looking for an adamantanium upgrade? Please say yes."

"Uh…"

"Alright, alright," Bruce intervened with a chuckle as he came over. "Down, Tony."

"Only if I get a treat," Tony quipped with a grin at Bruce and the other rolled his eyes.

"So while we have a rare opportunity to get a word in edgewise, what's up?" Bruce asked and again Steve was grateful for his presence. Huh. Maybe he was reassuring like a kid's favorite teddy bear after all.

He took a breath and turned to pace a few steps away. “Okay, so there’s something I need to get off my chest. I've decided if we're a team then I need to trust my team to understand. If nothing else, my team deserves for me to be honest with them.”

“This should be good,” Tony remarked and it was followed by a sharp groan. Steve turned to see Tony holding his side and glaring at Bruce.

“I’m gay,” he blurted out while he still had the nerve.

Tony’s hand fell and he turned his head back to look at him in disbelief. “What the hell?” Steve winced. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the billionaire started laughing as if it was all too funny. Steve felt his jaw tighten and his fists clench of their own accord. "That’s a good one, Steve. Did Barton or Romanov put you up to it?”

“ _Tony_.” Bruce chastised sharply and the other stopped abruptly and looked at the physicist. “He's not joking.”

“What do you mean he’s not joking? Of course he’s joking.” Tony looked at him again and must have seen his feelings clear as day because then his eyes widened. “Wait, you're serious?” Steve gave a tight nod. Tony looked confused, rather than judgmental. "But what about Peggy Carter? I thought she was your one great love.”

Steve sighed. “She was. Or could have been.” Tony raised his brow in askance. “Women… They fascinate me I guess,” he tried to explain. “They’re beautiful. I admire them. They intimidate me,” he added with a chuckle.

“But you’re not physically attracted to them?” Bruce guessed where he was going with this.

He shrugged. “Peggy was amazing and I think I could have spent my life with her. I did love her... But when she kissed me, it just…nothing." He shook his head. "Like every other woman. It confused the hell out of me because I thought maybe she’d be the one I was attracted to all around. I thought she was the right partner, the one that would fix me. I don't know. Maybe that doesn’t make sense.” He shrugged again.

"Follow-up question," Bruce said evenly. "Are you certain you're just not physically attracted to either sex? It's a very normal thing, but it can be confusing too."

"Well," Steve considered it, "maybe a little that. I'm not really some raging dick like a lot of the guys I knew back in the day."

"Cap just said raging dick," Tony interjected. "And here I thought learning his orientation would be the most surreal moment of the day."

"Stop," Bruce said with a fond shake of his head.

"I definitely wasn't Howard," Steve added with a laugh, Tony reminding him of his father for a moment. "But I'm certain I'm physically attracted to men. _Very_ certain," he emphasized.

For some reason Tony looked horrified, which was worse than the laughter and slightly confusing because he'd been hopeful it was going well. "Okay, follow-up follow-up question, did you and my dad—"

"No!" Steve said quickly, matching his horror and Bruce's eyes were wide as he studied them both. "I didn't, no," he said more calmly.

" _Would_ _you have_?" Tony continued, tone somewhere between panic and genuine, albeit morbid, curiosity. 

"Uh... I don't know. Maybe. Okay, probably...if an opportunity had presented itself," he decided to continue with honesty. "But everyone knew he was a skirt chaser so there was no way… Why are you looking at me like that?" He stopped when he realized the horror had turned to shock.

"Oh my god." He looked at Bruce, like he wanted moral support, and then back at Steve. "Oh. _my_ god. You wanted to fondue with my dad!" Steve was the one in shock now. "All those years of that bastard moping over his unrequited crush and he could have scored."

"Wait, you know about the fondue?" A small part of Steve knew that wasn't the real issue here and rather that Tony seemed to think Howard had been interested in him.

"Cap, I know _everything._ Dad never stopped talking about you," Tony replied in exasperation. "Or. At least I thought I knew everything," he then added in an almost sulking tone. "Apparently not."

Steve pursed his lips tightly for a moment. "And now that you know," he glanced between the both of them so that Bruce knew the question was for him too, "does it make you uncomfortable?"

"Of course I'm uncomfortable." Tony threw up his hands. "I'm working with a guy who very well could have been getting freaky with my dad if the opportunity had presented itself. And for the record, his missing out will not be lived vicariously through me. No offense."

Steve furrowed his brow and glanced at Bruce again. The man had his nosed pinched tightly and he could just imagine him counting to ten in his head. Really, it still probably wasn't the best idea for him to always hang out with Tony.

"It's fine, Steve," Bruce said with a sigh. He then smiled a very small, but still reassuring smile. "I'm not uncomfortable with the fact that you prefer men. And thank you for trusting us. Coming out can be hard."

"Wait," Tony scrunched his face then, "you meant uncomfortable as in with the fact that you get hard for dudes?"

"You may regret having told Tony though," Bruce jibed with a small chuckle.

Tony shot him a small glare, but ignored the comment in favor of setting him straight. "Cap, I'm not exactly in any position to care how you get off okay? Playboy, remember?"

"Well, yeah, I know, but…" Steve fumbled. "But you're a skirt chaser like your dad was so I wasn't sure."

"Only when he's up for role playing," Tony said dismissively, but then he brought a hand to his mouth and his eyes widened. Steve's instinct was to look at Bruce and sure enough the man was beet red. Tony looked at him with a beseeching expression. "Bruce, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to… If it helps, I wear the skirt sometimes too," he tried with a nervous chuckle.

"It doesn't," Bruce said evenly.

There was a long, awkward silence as Steve looked back and forth between them.

"What about Pepper?" he finally asked.

"It wasn't stable enough," Tony said with a shrug. "She was stressed. I was stressed. Bruce came along and hot _damn_." He looked at Bruce without reservation and the lust and awe and everything in between that he'd apparently kept a lid on in front of the team came off of him in waves. For half a second, Steve was almost jealous. Not in _that_ way, but for that kind of adoration in general.

"Tony, please stop," Bruce protested, but didn't look entirely displeased.

"Stop what?" Tony raised an eyebrow. He then turned and leaned into Bruce's space. "Stop thinking you're the most fucking gorgeous thing I've ever seen? Because, babe, I wanted to blow you the minute you started speaking English—"

"Okay!" Steve cut in before the scene could go any further. "Please stop."

They turned and looked at him, Bruce blinking as if he just remembered Steve was still there.

"This kind of thing shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable if you're into dudes, Steve," Tony said, face quirked in confusion.

"Really?" Steve countered. "Because I can think of at least one way. Because I _am_ into dudes."

Tony's eyes widened in realization. He then cleared his throat. "Um, so back to Pepper. Don't worry about her or think I'm just using Bruce here. Shortly after the Battle of Manhattan,  we broke up but she and I came to the mutual decision that we'd let the media think we're still dating so we can keep our love lives private for a change. It works for us. Bruce prefers not having the attention anyways."

"You could have told us," Steve pointed out.

"We would have eventually," Bruce offered. "But, he's right. I prefer not having the attention. It's nice having it just between me and him. And Pepper. Pepper knows of course."

Steve nodded in understanding. "Alright, your secret's safe with me."

"And your secret?" Bruce asked in return.

"Coulson knows. Figured it out on his own," Steve said with a smile as he thought about how Phil might have gone about putting those pieces together.

"Did he now?" Tony asked with a smirk.

"Uh, yeah," Steve replied tentatively. Something about the smirk unnerved him. "And I've told Thor already. He's fine with it. Asgardians are, uh, very open I guess you could say." Bruce snorted in response. "I plan on telling Natasha and Clint next."

With any luck, those conversations would be less awkward and revelatory as this one had been.

 

“So,” Steve said as he wiped his face between training sets with Natasha, “Lillian from accounting.” She’d been playfully trying to set him up with random women including Lillian.

She quirked an eyebrow and finished a swig from her water bottle. “Yeah? You finally ready for me to talk to her?”

“Actually, I was wondering if she had a brother,” he said with what he hoped was humor.

She tilted her head slightly, as if taking in this new bit of information and analyzing it. Then without missing a further beat, she said, “You know, I think she’s an only child. But she does have an older cousin. I think you’d be really into him.”

Steve blinked before smiling. “I’m kidding.”

“About which part?” She arched one eyebrow high in a way that suggested she didn’t find it funny.

“I mean about wanting you to set me up with someone,” he clarified with a huff. “I’m more than capable of—"

She snorted loudly. “No you’re not.”

“Hey.” He gave her a playful scowl as he started to wrap his hand with athletic tape.

“Trust me, Steve.” Her lips quirked into her version of a smirk. “I’m good at catching men.”

He groaned. She was going to be worse than Tony.

 

"So." Clint looked at him with raised eyebrows when Steve came into the kitchen to help him with the team dinner. "Is it my turn?"

Steve froze. Had anyone said something to him? It wasn't that he'd been saving him for last for any particular reason, he'd just manage a moment alone with Natasha sooner.

"Look," Clint guessed his apprehension and continued before Steve could speak up, "in case you haven't figured it out, they call me Hawkeye for a reason. I'm not blind. Or dumb. Things have been different around here recently. First it was Thor. Then the two idiots. Now Natasha. The connection here seems to be you." Clint stopped what he was doing and turned to face him fully. "Everybody's acting different around you now."

Steve's stomach fell. "They… They are?" This was exactly what he'd not wanted to happen.

"Uh, yeah," Clint said with a nod. "Thor looks at you like a kid at Christmas when he sees you. Bruce… well, Bruce hasn't changed too much. Natasha suggested something absolutely beyond reason to me. Even if Phil would be over the moon," he muttered. "And Tony...  _the hell_? He actually suggested we hit a gay bar this weekend to give you the full 21 st Century experience." Steve's eyes widened. "So either suddenly everybody's playing some elaborate prank or—"

"Or they might have other reasons," Steve interjected before he had a chance to finish.

"Do you _want_ to go to a gay bar?" Clint quipped and Steve could tell he understood what he had meant and was now bridging the gap with humor, as if it was just a normal conversation.

Steve chuckled. "No, not really. Or clubbing. Or whatever else Tony can come up with to spice up my social life as he puts it. I'm fine being single. I'm still adjusting. And tell Natasha she can stop—"

Suddenly what Clint said sank in and his vision tunneled slightly.

"Oh wow." Clint looked at him in disbelief. "Natasha was right. You really _are_ that clueless."

 

Steve took a drink of the overpriced alcoholic drink that wouldn't even give him an ounce of liquid courage and then set it down. He watched Phil carefully, waiting for the man to finally have a free moment. He was surprisingly, well not surprisingly, popular at this little S.H.I.E.L.D. shindig Tony had thrown together – because once a month he just _had_ to find a reason to have a party. He was incorrigible really, but earlier he'd seen him drag Bruce toward a dark corner, discreetly enough not to be obvious to anyone who didn't already know, so Steve figured it didn't matter too much as long as the quieter half of the couple was managing to enjoy himself and put up with Stark's eccentrics.

Of course, he didn't really care to think about Bruce and Tony or what they might be up to at the moment. His attention was still on Phil and his determination to finally talk to him tonight. If he'd stop chatting with Lillian from accounting, and the irony was not lost on him, he'd swoop in before—

That goal was suddenly deterred when Phil and Lillian came over toward the bar where he stood and caught sight of him. They ordered their drinks and then turned to him.

"Hello, Steve," Phil said with a smile. "You've met my cousin, Lillian, right? She works in accounting."

"Good evening, Captain Rogers," she said formally and held out her hand.

Steve blinked a few times, looking back and forth between them, before taking her hand and giving it a quick shake. "Cousins?"

"You'd be surprised how nepotistic S.H.I.E.L.D. can be," Phil replied with a chuckle.

"So, don't kill me, Phil," Lillian said as she grabbed her drink, "but I'm going to take my drink on the run. Don't take this the wrong way, but I'd like to mingle with a few guys I can actually score a date with. I might even keep an eye open for Mr. Stark himself. Are he and Pepper Potts exclusive?"

"Yes," Steve said quickly and Coulson looked at him curiously.

"Oh. Well, then, never mind," she said with a shrug and left them.

"If he's exclusive somebody should tell Ms. Potts he left the party with Banner about twenty minutes ago. And I don't think they were off to do science."

"Chemistry maybe," Steve offered casually and then cringed.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad," Phil said with a grimace, but it was accompanied by a small laugh just the same. "Save the bad jokes to Stark."

"Agreed," Steve replied back with his own small laugh. "So… you know about them?" he hazarded.

"Yeah, I caught him in a somewhat compromising position with Bruce once and went to Pepper in concern. She and I get drinks together, talk about the joys of babysitting the Avengers—"

"You mean Tony," Steve said knowingly.

"Mostly," he answered earnestly. "I wanted to warn her so she shared with me the arrangement she and Stark have now."

"Ah," Steve toned and then took another drink. There was an awkward moment of silence, mostly because Steve wanted to say what he had to say before he lost his nerve again. "So is it true you nearly swooned?"

At the same time as he posed his question, Phil said, "Look, I feel like I need to be honest with you." They both looked at each other slightly startled. Phil furrowed his brow. "Did I swoon?"

Steve felt his cheeks grow heated. "Uh, yeah, you know. Natasha once said she thought you were going to swoon when they found me in the ice."

The agent's eyebrows rose slowly. "She's lying. I wouldn't have let anyone get that impression. I… swooned later when nobody was around." His serious expression morphed into a guilty grin.

Steve matched it with a smile of his own. "Yeah?"

"That's why I feel like I haven't been honest with you, Steve," Phil returned back to his own point. "The reason I knew you're gay is because, well, I am too," he admitted. "And growing up maybe I didn't know so much as have a hunch as I sort of hoped you were. Not just because of my, uh, crush on you," he said in the most sheepish tone Steve had ever heard from the man, "but because if Captain America was then maybe it was okay that I was too. Of course you can't just spring that kind of thing on a guy when he wakes up from a seventy year coma and has to save the world from aliens. And I needed a little time to find out if my hunch was correct. Mostly I just didn't want to make you more uncomfortable."

Steve considered the confession and how to respond. Finally he settled on a good-natured rib – "More uncomfortable than telling me you were present while I was unconscious?"

Phil laughed through his nose, practically a titter, at the likely-unexpected comment. "Oh god. I still cringe when I think about it."

"You shouldn't," Steve said earnestly, finally taking some initiative. Phil looked at him strangely as the laughter subsided. "It was just a little unexpected. I'd never been – what's the term now? hit on? – by a guy before. The stoic act? I didn't want to be obvious. Give myself away."

Phil opened his mouth, then shut it again. His lips were pressed in a hard line for a moment. Then he said, "I wasn't hitting on you."

"You weren't?" Steve feigned surprise.

"No." Phil shook his head.

Steve tilted his head and squint one eye. "Are you sure?"

"I was just—" Phil's eyes widened in realization and Steve smiled wide at him. "Okay, you got me. I was hitting on you. And now," he said knowingly, "you're hitting on me."

"Now you're starting to catch on."

"Why?"

"Well," Steve shrugged, "I hear it's legal now." Phil gave his version of a smirk, but it was mostly adorable. "And honestly I think Natasha has some elaborate scheme to set us up anyway."

"That sounds terrifying," Phil said with a snort. "And if Barton gets involved—"

"Dangerous. So," Steve sounded confident, surprisingly smooth for once, but inside his heart was pounding away, "why don't we spoil their fun and get together on our own?"

"Well. I do like spoiling their fun," Phil replied in exaggerated thoughtfulness. Then he smiled and met Steve's gaze confidently, and Steve wondered if inside his heart was racing too. "So that's a yes."

The term was still odd maybe, but by the end of the evening Steve couldn't have cared less. He was glad to be out, and even more so if it meant being out with Phil.

**Author's Note:**

> So uh, don't ask me where Steve being enamored but not attracted to women came from. I'd never considered it before, but I just was writing and was like thinking two a.m. thoughts about how he seems wowed by women who could snap him in half and always in an intimidated kind of way. But then whenever hot women kiss him (I haven't seen/refuse to watch Civil War btw so idk what's canon there) he seems to go "wtf? dnw!" So I ran with it for this story. Besides I'm a firm believer people can be in happy platonically-romantic relationships (I've seen it in real life thus my belief) so I do think in context of this fic he could have been happy with Peggy if not, you know, sexually satisfied. (I'm tired from not sleeping last night and a long day of work so my apologies if these notes make no sense.)
> 
> And please tell me somebody got the random reference in this.


End file.
